Marin icons now the Dead / Band dropped Grateful Dead moniker after Garcia's death

Joel Selvin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Photo: DARREN HAUCK

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** FILE ** Bob Weir, right, and Phil Lesh, left, are shown performing in East Troy, Wis., in this Aug. 4, 2002, file photo. Weir, Lesh and fellow former Grateful Dead band members Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart renamed themselves The Other Ones after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. Now they have decided to rename the band once again, this time calling themselves, simply, The Dead. "With the greatest possible respect to our collective history, we have decided to keep the name 'Grateful Dead' retired in honor of Jerry's memory, and call ourselves: 'The Dead'," the band said. (AP Photo/ Darren Hauck, File) less

** FILE ** Bob Weir, right, and Phil Lesh, left, are shown performing in East Troy, Wis., in this Aug. 4, 2002, file photo. Weir, Lesh and fellow former Grateful Dead band members Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart ... more

Photo: DARREN HAUCK

Marin icons now the Dead / Band dropped Grateful Dead moniker after Garcia's death

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The living members of the Grateful Dead, who reunited to perform last year as the Other Ones, have partly reclaimed the band's historic name and will now call themselves the Dead.

The band, which announced the name change on its Web site, had abandoned the Grateful Dead name after the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia.

The decision to change the group's name was not unanimous.

"At least a couple of the guys really wanted to do it," said Dead guitarist Bob Weir. "I think it's a bit premature. I was just fine being the Other Ones. If they really want to do it, they're going to -- I'm clearly out-voted on this."

Drummer Mickey Hart said the name change was rooted in the euphoric experience of all four former Dead members playing together for the first time in many years last summer.

"This was the D-word," Hart said. "We all looked around, but we didn't say much. But we all know when the dragon comes out. This was that -- without Jerry though."

The name change appears to be part of a general change of direction for the Marin County-based organization, which will also be cutting staff and trimming the band's operation in coming months.

The Dead will have its debut performance under the new name in a sold-out benefit concert Friday night at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco.

As recently as 2001, band members weren't even on speaking terms. But the other three surviving members -- Hart, Weir and drummer Bill Kreutzmann -- joined bassist Phil Lesh at his 2001 New Year's Eve concert, signaling an end to the fractious feud. The reformed version of the Other Ones, the first to feature all four former members of the original band, played a two-day festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wis., followed by a three-week East Coast tour in November and December and a New Year's Eve appearance in Oakland.

The business of the Grateful Dead is about to change, too.

Employees of Grateful Dead Productions, the band's wholly owned subsidiary, which sells as much as $30 million worth of CD's and other merchandise annually, were told two weeks ago that the band would significantly trim operations at its Novato headquarters in the near future.

"We want to simplify and play music," said Hart, "and get rid of all this mumbo-jumbo. That was what got us into trouble."

Sources said a deal is in the works with Musictoday of Charlottesville, Va.,

to handle the band's merchandise. The Virginia company is an e-commerce operation run by Coran Capshaw, manager of the Dave Matthews Band. The Dead's Lesh is already a client of the firm.

The future of the band's extensive tape vault remains uncertain. Hundreds, if not thousands of hours of Dead concert recordings remain unreleased. With the Dead's long-standing distribution deal with Arista Records set to expire later this year, offers have been solicited from various record labels, according to sources close to the band.

Among the most likely scenarios is that distribution of mainstream Dead product to record stores will be taken over by Warner/Rhino, which has been handling the Dead catalog from the band's years with Warner Bros. Individual CD editions of the band's first nine albums with bonus tracks are currently being released by Rhino. The band's own "Dick's Picks" series, which includes 27 multidisc volumes of Grateful Dead live recordings, many of which have sold more than 50,000 copies, will continue as a mail-order business with Musictoday.

More than two dozen employees, many with long years of service (including Jerry Garcia's brother, Tiff), staff the Novato operation. The building is expected to be sold as the band scales down its business.

And now, that's it for the Other Ones, who took the name from an early Grateful Dead song, "That's It For the Other One." Weir, who said he was on the road with his solo band Ratdog when the decision to rename the Dead was made, claims to be contemplating a name change of his own. "As long as we're changing names," he said, "let's roll up our sleeves -- I'm thinking about changing Ratdog to Chew Toys."

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